Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy lately but will try to post sooner!!
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Lord William smugly grasp Bernard’s hair, pulling it upwards “you think it’s so easy for you to miss such an event, your breaking my heart” he sneered in his ear.
“Milord, the altar is finished” Jerome bowed.
Smiling, he lets go of Bernard’s hair “alright, lets proceed” he handed the baby to Jerome.
Beside Jerome is an altar, with strange symbols encircle by ancient text, five wisps of dark flames enclose around it. Jerome pricked his hands with a ceremonial dagger before smearing the blood on the baby’s chest, with a finger; he drew a marking on the baby’s forehead. He started chanting inaudible words of power, the writing slowly glowing in blood red.
“This here is a ceremony for our Mistress Lamuslea, the dark goddess of lust and sin, the daughter of the almighty Akaizuhr!!” Proclaims William “through a primeval carving discovered by my forefathers I shall gain everything I desire” He smiled “with the help of your son of course.”
“S..t..stoop” groan Bernard
“Why should I stop when I’m about to get everything I ever wanted, the love of my life at my every whim and the destruction of the man I loathe with my every fiber. This is possibly the best day of my life” William Laughed hysterically “just sit back and enjoy the show, or should I say lay down”
HAHAHAHAHA
The group laughed at their lord’s joke while a crestfallen Bernard cursed silently at himself for not being able to do anything.
In an instant three things happened: the first occurrence is when an arrow flew and hit directly at the back of Jerome, an exhausted village guard holding a bow leans against the tree while blood leaks from his side. Two men carrying swords, one with their arm ripped off while the other had one of his legs crushed by the behemoth boar slowly walked towards the group despite their injuries.
Second a chain of pure blue erupted from the ground to coil around the seven guards and Lord William, two men and a woman stepped out from the shadows.
Third, the transparent like aura from the baby that went unnoticed.
“I never thought a day like this would happen aye Jakke?” a burly of a man with wild red hair asks the guy on his left.
Pushing his glasses upward, the scrawny man answered “humph, we can’t all be as paranoid as you Ranffus, but I agree” his short grey wavy hair skirting in the wind, a lone braid covered in silver beads flow behind his left ear reaching his earlobe “for the ‘mad blazer’ to be in this position is preposterous”
“Don’t speak like that idiot!” the blonde women yelled wearing white attire of a nun “how can you talk like that when you are with the church!”
“HAR HAR HAR we’re just messing around here Tara, no harm done” Ranffus tried to ease the nun.
Tssk snorted Jakke, which seems to further rile the women; her aqua eyes scorching in fury “fine then, wait til we head back. I’m pretty sure the pope would interested in the events back at Yarith”
Jakke shuddered at the thought, sighing “fine, let’s get this over with”
“WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE??!!” roared William.
The group ignored him, Jakke looked toward the village guards “be at peace my brothers, for the goddess has seen your bravery. Your families will be taken care of; you don’t have to worry. Go my brothers, for the goddess is awaiting you with her warm embrace.”
The three village guards saw the sincerity in his eyes, relief and acceptance shown on their faces; they slumped down one after another, the light in their eyes slowly disappearing. The playful Ranffus gradually turned cold “for you to have done this, be prepare for the consequences” his gaze froze the guards in fright.
“HAHAHAHA you think you can stop us?” William sneered “the ceremony has already begun and nothing you do can stop it!!”
The inaudible words that Jerome chanted started to amplify in volume, the arrow in his back rotted away, from the ground sprung black jets of spumes that flew towards the guards. The black smoke entered through their mouths, their scream of agony rung through the forest. The sound of bones grinding and snapping filled the air, in less than a minute what stood there were abominations. Three of the guards were shrunken in size, black leathery wings spouted from their hairy backs, small orange horns jutted along their forearms to their shoulders. With faces of gremlins, the guards were an ugly site.
Four of the other guards, unlike the other three, were enlarge to nine feet, muscles swelling at an extreme rate, their leathery skin a dark shade of black and grey. Two horns rupture from their skulls reaching at six inches, three small beady eyes arc downward from left to right. A mouth full of fangs at five inches, they roared with all their might.
“The robiboz and abotsan?” Jakke’s face distorted in disgust “you would have your men turned to demeons to satisfy your whim?”
“Their lives belong to me and I can do whatever I seem fit” replied William “stop the small talks, you’re ruining my mood. GET THEM!!”
The demeons struggled with their chains and with an effort shred the binding that held them, little by little they made their way toward the group.
“What now?” ask Ranffus crouching in battle stance.
“We have to stop Jerome from finishing the chant of prayer, if he completes the rites then even our lives will be at stake” replied Jakke
“Alrighty then” eyes gleaming Ranffus gave a howl before transforming into monstrous werewolf, his pelt glowing bright red, charges at demeons.
“O Goddess of light and creation, Ithian be thy name. Grant this child the power to vanquish all evil.” Jakke chanted and grabbed his silver necklace, a small medallion engraved of two suns and the moon intertwine “morning star!” he threw the medallion upward, the pendent shined in silver and enlarge into an full circle before falling on top of him. Whenever the light touches him, his body became donned in armor, by the time the light touched the ground, what stood there was a knight of pure silver with gold engravings. By his side were two medium size swords holstered in golden scabbard.
With a glance “Tara seal their movements, set a barrier around the others.”
Nodding her head “roger that! Go kick some butt or else…” replied Tara straining the last part. A slight shiver ran down Jakke’s back, shaking his head, he jumped into the fray.
Tara closed her eyes and cast [barrier], a light blue hue surrounded Bernard and the others. After seeing that they were safe at the moment, she cast another spell [slow], which caused the demeons to sluggishly move around.
The dwarven healer rushed to Sarah’s side “hurry Aenor, keep her safe while I prepare [heal] and [cleansing]”
“Understood Master Bedolda” replied Aenor, she uncertainly crouched in front of Sarah, blocking her view of the battle.
Ranffus ducks a swipe from an abotsan and launches himself towards the flying robiboz, tearing the wings on one while biting on the other. Their screams barely heard over the furious roar of the abotsan demeons, a flash of light arcs horizontally towards the remaining flying demeons cutting them in half.
“Crescent slash” Jakke whispered.
With one sword out, he withdrew the other and dashes for the nearest abotsan. The demeon swung a right hook, but Jakke leaned backwards, dodging by a few centimeters, he spun one-eighty before unleashing nonstop slashes. Under less than a minute Jakke had slash more than a hundred times, the demeon gave an anguish cry and slumped dead.
Seeing the situation growing worse, a howl erupted from two of the abotsan. Looking at each other, they charge into one another, what happen next caused the cool headed knight to shiver in disgust. Once the demeons collided, the force they emitted caused them to explode, their organs spattering around them. Stunned by the abotsan’s actions, the group stood still, not sure what to do.
After a couple of seconds the body matter slowly pulsated, with renew energy, bit by bit it crawled together to form a blob like creature, but it seems like its transformation isn’t done yet.
Ranffus attacked the other demeon while keeping his eyes on the blob “we have to finish this soon” he growled.
Nodding in reply, Jakke shifts his weight and shoots off like an arrow at the demeon. With a cry, the abotsan fighting Ranffus threw him off before blocking the path of Jakke. With a grunt, he deflected the claws of the abotsan, but just as quickly stabbed its throat with his right sword while using the other to slice open the creature’s stomach, its organs dripping to the ground with a retching smell.
The abotsan gurgle his own blacken blood before dropping on his knees and tumbling over on his side.
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The blob gave a vicious roar, his transformation complete. A colossal humanoid taller than the trees stood before them, skin blacker than night with purple like veins coursing through his body. The creatures face devoid of any features with only a gaping mouth that keeps opening and closing.
“N..no way” gasp Ranffus “the S rank Hollowmouth?!!”
The hollowmouth, a demeon that has indestructible like skin that is as tough as the scales of dragons. It senses its enemies through heat signatures and vibrations, but the thing that got the creature its name is because of its mouth, for that gaping mouth is like a black hole. Just a few short breaths and everything within the area will crumble and be sucked right in increasing the demeon’s power.
“Quick Tara release Bernard!” said Jakke
“Ye..yes!!” she squeak, she turns around and runs off.
He shifts his gaze to Ranffus “and you stop playing around.”
“No one was playing around!!” shouted Ranffus, face beet red with rage.
“Shut it mutt, we have bigger problems.” Jakke calmly says which riles Ranffus further, with no retort, he angrily charges against the demeon while muttering how unfair, just you wait… not hearing the rest, he jumps towards the hollowmouth.
Tara knelt by Bernard “the chain of oblivion is an A rank artifact, no one has ever gotten out if it. But legends say that there is a way; stories that were passed down from generations to generations but were lost with the passage of time.” Using her left hand she stroke her hair, raising it up above her ear, she bent down and gave a gentle kiss onto the chains. A yellowish hue glowed from the chains, slowly expanding before sliding off of Bernard.
Bewildered, he asked “how?”
Smiling gently “through countless tales, besides killing the monsters, doesn’t one method remain?”
Confused, all he could do was looked dumbfound at her, shaking her head “true loves kiss.” These three words froze his heart, face turning ashen “Ta..Ta…Tara..I..I..I” Bernard stuttered.
Laughter sprung forth from Tara “HAHAHAHA you think…” she tries to hold herself together but it seems like she can’t, she falls down holding her stomach for twenty seconds before gasping for breath “hehehe don’t be mistaken Bernard, although I find you cuddly like a baby bear, all I see in you is nothing but brotherly love.”
“Ri..right” nodding his head, Bernard couldn’t help but feel his pride being hurt. Something crashed behind the duo, coughing in the dust; Ranffus angrily yelled “if you pansies are done with your little talk we really need you in the game now!!” He howled [shadow wolf] before splitting into four miniature size shadow and charged at the howlmouth, its speed increasing at a dramatic pace.
“Alright let’s hurry” rubbing his shoulders, “my son needs me.”
“hahaha do you think you can stop me hahahaha” Lord William spat, looking over at Jerome, “hurry up with the spell!!” Jerome continues with the spell despite William’s outburst, for this was an ancient spell that needed complete focus or else the backlash would be immense.
With the destructions of their battle the surrounding area became more barren, the battle raged on with no visible winner. As the minutes pass by, Bernard became more desperate; he tries more reckless tactics to overcome the hollowmouth but seems to be in vain.
Jakke lands a few feet from Bernard, he angrily glares at him “do you have some kind of death wish?!! At this rate the hollowmouth will not only kill you but use you as a stepping stone for raising its power!”
“And what would you have me do?!!” Bernard yelled “we have to finish this as fast as possible or else my son is going to die!!”
Suddenly a scream of pure agony erupted, Bernard and the others looked around to find the source, but when they do they couldn’t help but gasp. For the one who was giving this heart wrenching screech was none other than Jerome.
“Something must’ve gone wrong with the ritual” Rannfus said looking worried. Red and black wisp of energy surrounded Jerome; the energy fluctuated at a fast rate, cracks began to appear within the symbols. With quick reflexes, Tara used all her mana into her spell [barrier] reinforcing one a top another before the circle exploded. A wave of pure force blew everyone ten meters, the barren land that suffered from the continuous attacks from both side became a wasteland. Being chained, Lord William suffered the full blast and became nothing more; even a speck of dust couldn’t be found.
The hollowmouth even with its hard like skin was unable to leave unscathed, but with the ritual being broken, the power that allowed the hollowmouth to remain on Ithia weakened, the demeon slowly felt the pull back to the demeon realm and gave an anguish cry before disappearing.
Coughing uncontrollably, blood began to seep from the group’s mouth. Sarah weakly stood up and though her strength was waning, through sheer will she walked towards the altar. When she reaches her destination, all that lay there was a white bundle, with shaking hands, she kneeled and reached out to it.
Tears streaming down her face, she lifts the bundle to her chest and gave a cry towards the heavens. Bernard crestfallen falls on his knees, grapping his head he gave an audible scream before bawling like a child. Seeing this scene, the rest felt their hearts shredding in pieces, the women silently wept while Jakke and Ranffus stood still, sadness and regret filled their eyes.
“Gua” a single sound that would’ve likely been unnoticed but within the brief moment of silence was loud enough for everyone to hear, shocked Sarah quickly unfold the blanket and found her newborn, her son breathing and gurgling words as if ascertaining that he was still alive. Relief and happiness spread on her face “Bernard look our son’s alright!!”
Bernard moved clumsily next to Sarah and peer over her shoulder, when he saw his son raising his hands towards him, all the burden and guilt lifted from his chest. He quickly turns around “he’s alright!! My son is Alright!!”
Disbelief spread among the group, for the backlash of the spell was enormous; they themselves barely survive so how can a new born who was at dead center of the shockwave survive?
Ranffus walks toward Bernard and pats his shoulders “please don’t do this Bernard; I know this must be hard to accept but you must harden your heart if not for yourself then for your wife.”
“but..”
“I know I know, it may seem like the world has turn upside down, but no matter what you do you must hold on. Your son has been grace with Ithians love and is probably enjoying his time in her company” Replied Ranffus.
“Are you cursing my son?!!” Bernard angrily yells, he bends down and picks up the bundle from his wife “does this look like he’s dead!!” With the bundle in his arms, he arcs sideways to show the laughing face of his son.
“???!!!”
The group was gasping in shock before cheering loudly.
“How can this be?” Ranffus stupidly ask.
“Why it’s a miracle of course!!” replied Jonathan.
“aww he’s shoo cuuutee” said Tara.
“It seems like the goddess has taken an interest in your little one” said Jakke before glaring at Ranffus “and you were cursing the man’s son just a minute ago” he sadly shook his head “pathetic.”
“I..I..” Ranffus stutters before sighing, “I’m sorry” he knew that he was at fault for assuming too soon. “It’s alright Ranffus, no need to burden yourself” Bernard replies before turning to Sarah “sorry for the late introductions these were my teammates during my adventure days, Ranffus Nightclaw of the bloodred wolf clan, Jakke Conanus paladin of Ithian church, and Tara Adete an nun and white mage also from the church.”
Ranffus gave a silent wave while Tara happily introduced herself “it’s nice to finally meet you.” Jakke gave a bow towards Sarah “a pleasure to meet you, for one to be able to tame this mad beast, I’m impress.”
“Thank you” Sarah tiredly replies, seeing this Bernard hurriedly says “alright alright, we can go rest at my place before heading back to the village, I know that everyone is exhausted from this.”
Everyone nodded their heads, but before they could leave though “ung?” Tara exclaims in surprise “hey Bernard can you give me your child for a bit?” Not sure why, he reluctantly handed his son to her, with the child in her arms, she closely inspected him. After repeatedly examining the baby, she looked up at Bernard and Sarah, tears began to fall “Bernard, y..yo..your..” she began to bawl her eyes out. “What’s wrong?” Bernard urgently asks Sarah grips his arm with worry. Tara hands over the baby to him “take a close look at his eyes” Bernard and Sarah peer closely at the child’s eyes and when the baby opens them, grief overtook them. For staring at them were eyes of silvery white, for they knew that their child was highly likely to be blind.